19
T
!
STATURAL GROWTH 1958-6
T
BY AGE AT EXPOSURE (GOYS)
170 -CONTROL GROUP
~--- EXPOSED GROUP
|
I
I
|
I
COMPARISON OF SKELETAL AGE &
CHRONOLOGICAL AGE -B86I
Q-""
|
MEOIAN DIFFERENCE
(SKELETAL AGE| SA
MINUS CHRONOLOGICAL AGE [cA])
& AGE AT EXPOSURE
INDICATED BY CIRLED
NUMBER
oO
g
MEDIAN STATURE {cms)
a
8
sok.
1
_
8
Cy
Lod
/
5
7
3
iI
13
15
I?
wo ‘
90r-
i
CHRONOLOGICAL AGE (YEARS)
Figure 14.
signed-ranks test*' were utilized in testing differences in these data. The more powerful Walsh test
was used for the comparisons on children exposed
at between 12 and 18 monthsof age because of the
verv small samples involved. The Wilcoxon test
was used for the comparisons on the other children
because the larger samples were beyond the functional range of the Walsh test. The Spearman
rank correlation coefficient was utilized as the
nonparametric measureof correlation.
Comparisons were made (a) between the two
sexes for each age separately, (b) between exposed
and control groups for each sex and age separately, (c) between exposed and control groupsfor
each age separately with the sexes combined, and
(d) between exposed and control groups for each
sex, age, and yearof birth (or age at exposure)
separately. These comparisons have been summarized graphically (Figures 8 to 15), and the
results of the comparisons are shown in Tables 6
and 7.
Height and weight data on children born before
the fallout showed the expected pattern of pubertal growth spurt occurringearlier in girls than in
boys and the eventual superiority in size of boys
— CONTROL GROUP
------ EXPOSED GROUP
i
O-I
|
23
AGE
L
4-5
AT
!
6-7
4
:
8-9
tO-i1
EXPOSURE
Figure 15.
at maturity. In addition, with respect to stature,
there was a distinct tendency, among the boys
only, at <12 years of age, for the exposed group to
be shorter than the unexposed. This difference was
prominent in boys exposed at <6 years and most
marked among those exposed at age | vear. the
latter being those aged 12 to 18 monthsat the ume
of the fallout. A similar trend, but much less dis-
tinct, was also noted in body weight among the
bovs. No such patterns in growth curve variations
between exposed and control groups were noted
among thegirls.
Among the children born after the fallout, the
males with exposed parents were smaller in stature
at all ages than those with unexposed parents. The
difference was most marked at ages 1, 3, and 4
vears. The difference in stature was greatest in
boys born <2 years after the fallout. The magni-
tude of the difference decreased with increasing
age. No difference between children with and
without history of parental exposure was noted
for head circumferences and body weight.
Although the growth data for children exposed
in utero were examinedseparately, the small number of individuals in this category prevented adequatestatistical analysis. Hereafter the children
exposed zn utero will be included in the group directly exposedto fallout.
Roentgenogramsofthe left hand and wrist were
obtained in 1959 and 1961. In the limited 1960
survey, no x-ray studies were done. Theavailable
roentgenogramswereassessed by using the inspec-